Peanut picker with gaseous suspension and sifting



D. F. GOOD April 20, 1948.

PEANUT PICKER WITH GASEOUS SUSPENSION AND SIF'I'ING Original Filed Sept.21, 1942 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Emma;

April 20, 1948. D. F. GOOD 2,440,197

PEANUT PICKER WITH GASEOUS SUSPENSION AND SIFTING Original Filed Sept21, 1942 s Sheets-Sheet 2 .D- FGooo,

D. F. GOOD April 20, 1948.

PEANUT PICKER WITH GASEOUS SUSPENSION AND SIFTING Original Filed Sept.21, 1942 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 Patented Apr. 20, 19 48 PEANUT PICKER WITHGASEOUS SUSPENSION AND SIF'IING Daniel F. Good, Waynesboro, Pa.,assignor to Frick Company, Waynesboro, Pa., a corporation ofPennsylvania Original application September 21, 1942, Serial Divided andthis application July 6, 1944, Serial No. 543.678

6 Claims. (Cl. 209-33) This invention relates to agricultural implementsand more particularly to those used primarily in harvesting.

This invention specifically relates to a peanut picker and includesimprovements over the machine disclosed in my Patent No. 2,349,262,dated May 23, 1944. v

This application is a division of my application Serial No. 466,470,filed September 21, 1942.

Heretofore peanut pickers have had certain undesirable features anddrawbacks which have made them objectionable and unsatisfactory. Thesemachines have not been durable; they have been too expensive andrequired too much personal care. Therefore, they were not only to adegree impractical, but in fact a nuisance. In addition to the aboveundesirable characteristics the machines have not satisfactorilyperformed the functions for which they were designed.

It is an object of the invention to provide a means adjacent the placeof inter-engagement of the rotary picking and feeding cylinder for sub-Jecting the vines and peanuts to an air blast whereby dust, dirtQandother extraneous matter are removed from the nuts and vines during themajor picking operation.

Briefly described, the machine comprises reciprocable racks and gridpans, stemmer saws, stone removing means and air blast means forcleaning the nuts.

The machine further incorporates improved features including:

Provision of means for freeing the peanuts of stones or like extraneousmatter which may have been carried through the machine with the peanutsto the delivery end of the machine;

An improved and more eflicient grid pan and cleaning grid assembly;

Simplification in construction while maintaining high efllciency;

And other features of novelty and advantage which will become apparentin view of the following description taken in conjunction with thedrawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is a longitudinal section of a peanut picking machine inaccordance with the present invention;

Fig. 2, a view in side elevation of the machine of Fig. 1; and

Fig. 3, an enlarged longitudinal section of the wind blast unit or fanmill.

Referring to the drawings, particularly Figs. 1 and 2, the parts of themachine are enclosed by a housing including side walls or panels and 8,

top panels I, open bottom panels 8, and open end panels 8. A conveyor I0is adapted to be loaded with vines so that they may be carried by theconveyor into housing ll of the machine and engaged by a rotary firstfeeding cylinder I2 and fed to a head chamber l3, where the vines aretaken by a second feeding cylinder l4 (rotating counter-clockwise asviewed in Fig. 1) and carried around to picking cylinder l5, whichlikewise rotates in a counter-clockwise direction and at a predeterminedspeed with respect to the second feeding cylinder.

Below the picking cylinder is a concave bed It consisting of sectionsIto and l6b, the former constituting the concave bed proper which isadjustable and the section I'Bb constituting a stripping screen.Extraneous matter, including trash, dust, dirt or the like, are removedthrough the adjustable section Ilia and the nuts pass into and throughthe openings in section lGb onto a grid pan ll which advances the nutsto the right as viewed in Fig. 1 and thence into wind blast cleaninggrid l8 through which the nuts fall onto pan l9, during which they aresubjected to the action of the cleaning fan and to the stemmer saws 20and then pass, either directly into the peanut delivery auger ordischarge conveyor trough 2| for movement by conveyor auger 2la thereinor indirectly through the stone cleaning unit and then to dischargeconveyor trough 2|.

The vines are taken by stripping cylinder 22 and thrown onto vine rack23, which progresses the vines to the rear of the machine and dischargesthem therefrom for baling, any nuts carried with the vines fallingthrough the vine rack onto grid section (to be described) of pan l'l. Atthe rear of the vine rack a return section 23a is installed to carry anynuts that may drop through at this point to the grid of pan l'l.

As the vines are fed into the head chamber l2, they are subjected to thesuction action of a dust collector or suction fan 24 mounted in housing25 which is in suction communication through perforated feed board orpartition 26 with the chamber l3 and also with the concave area throughperforated partition 21. The area beneath the concave Ilia may be closedoff by par- .titions 21a to more effectively concentrate the suctionaction. The suction fan thus draws dust .and dirt from the vines as theyare fed into the machine and also during the stripping operation, thedust, dirt and other extraneous matter being discharged through conduit28 and flexible extension 28a thereof which may extend along the groundsuch distance as will ensure clearance of the dust down wind.

plication Ser.

A feature of the present machine resides in the construction andmounting of the concaves and concave bed, generally indicated at IS. Theconcave bed proper l8a, or the section to which the vines are firstsubjected, comprises an arcuateshaped body pan having a series of teethor pins of different lengths projecting upwardly therefrom and which maybe termed the concave bed teeth. The pan may be made of relatively heavysheet metal or like material and is formed with a series of slots. Thepan at its front edge is turned outwardly at an angle to provide areinforcing nose which bridges the gap between the feed board 26 and thepan, and the rear edge is turned downwardly to reinforce the metal atthis point.

Means are provided whereby the forward or concave bed proper l6a may beadjusted toward or from the picking cylinder 15. Accordingly, thissection is provided with bearing yokes 36, note Fig. 1, which engageover cams or eccentrics 37 connected to cross shaft or rod 38, saidshaft being provided with a crank or handle 39 (Fig. 2) on the exteriorof the machine whereby it may be conveniently rotated to adjust theconcave bed.

This adjustment is designed primarily to take care of plants or vinesand nuts of varying sizes. Thus, should the peanuts be small, theconcave bed lBa may be adjusted towards the picking cylinder I5, whereasif large, the adjustment may be away from said cylinder. In other words,the concave bed may be adjusted to always maintain the proper relationof the picking cylinder and concave teeth to prevent the breaking ofnuts passing between the same, resulting in increased pickingefficiency.

Coacting with the teeth of the picking cylinder I are a series ofretarding concave pins or teeth 40, (Fig. 1), the said teeth beingsecured on cross shafts 4| which are rotatably mounted at opposite endsin bearings carried by the side walls of the machine and are eachprovided with an adlusting handle 42 (Fig. 2) accessible from the ex-vterior of the machine. The concave pins or teeth 40- project through theslots in the concave bed section Mia and function in a manner similar tothe retarding pins of the machine of my prior ap- No. 350,511 now PatentNo. 2,349,262. However, in this instance they are adjustably mounted, sothatthey may be raised when the vines are tough and lowered when thevines are dry, thus removing the nuts from the tough vines or preventingthe breakage of vines when dry. Furthermore, they are curved andpreferably given a resilient or spring mounting similar to the teeth ofthe picker cylinder.

The slots, while being of suificient size to enable the withdrawal ofdust, sand and like particles from the vines by the suction fan 24 arenot of such size as to permit the nuts to pass therethrough, the latterpassing around to stripping screen I61) and falling through pear-shapedopenings formed therein and onto the front solid section of grid pan IT.

The grid pan in its preferred form comprises a supporting frameincluding side rails, front inclined board 44a and cross pieces. The bedof the pan comprises a front corrugated nut-progressing section 45, anintermediate grid section 45 and a rear solid or non-perforatedprogressing section. These sections are individually removable andreplaceablein the supporting frame.

The section 45 has a perforated screening surface for sifting out sand,dirt and the like and below this section is a catch pan 45b inclinedforwardly and having its front end open to effect discharge ofextraneous material caught by the pan. a

The grid section 46 is provided with a series of screening openingswhich are of a size to readily permit peanuts to pass therethrough whileat the same time catching lengths of vine pieces, sticks and the likewhich may pass with the nuts through the section l8b of the concave orstripping screen and progress the same rearwardly onto the solidsection. The grid or screening section 46 is corrugated in a mannersimilar to the section 45 so as to progress the vine lengths, sticks andlike chaff rearwardly, and immediately below the grid surface there is aseries of downwardly and rearwardly inclined cross pieces which serve asbaffles to return any sticks orstems that may tend to fall through theopenings with the peanuts. To explain, such sticks and stems will fallendwise or substantially so, and hence they will "cock in the gridopenings with one end against the baffles and the reciprocatory actionof the grid will throw them forwardly clear of the openings. In actualpractice, the grid surface 46 may be made up of sheet metal pressed intothe desired shape and the cross pieces may also be made of sheet metaland braced by brackets.

Below grid section 45 is a supplemental solid or non-perforatedprogressing pan 41 which is hung from the main pan and lies in asubstantially horizontal plane with respect to the main upper section ofthe grid pan ll.

It will be noted that the main or upper section of the grid pan as awhole is inclined upwardly toward the rear of the machine. This tends toretard the movement of the peanuts or prevents a too rapid movementthereof over the grid consistent with eflicient cleaning.

From section 41 the nuts are progressed rearwardly onto downwardlyinclined blast-deflector section 48 which facilitates discharge of thenuts onto grid Ill. The cleaner grid I8 is preferably made up of spacedcross strips 50a and longitudinal strips providing a series ofrectangular openings, the cross pieces or strips 50a being inclined atan angle rearwardly to more effectively distribute the wind blast anddirect it outwardly and upwardly so that its full force is applied tothe discharge of the vines.

The peanuts drop through cleaning grid I8 onto bottom floor or pan 5|forming part of pan l9, which floor is inclined to the left as viewed inFig. 1, or forwardly and downwardly, and is formed with a series ofelongated slots 52 through which the stemmer saws 20 project.

Thus as the nuts drop through grid l8 they are subjected to the actionof the stemmer saws 20, the stems dropping through the slots 52 and thepeanuts passing to the entrance opening of hopper of delivery trough orconduit 2|, note particularly Fig. 3.

The peanuts may either pass directly into the hopper opening 53 from thepan Si or may be I passed indirectly into said hopper over inclinedbaffle board 54 having side boards 54a anda chute section 55. Thisaction is controlled by a valve vided with a curved extension 59a at itslower end.

The partition 50 divides the housing SI of the wind blast or fan mill,unit intoupper and lower passages 82 and lia, thefblast beingprovided-byfan 83. "The blast through? passage 82 isXcon-V trolled by means ofvalve 84'mounted on shaft 84a and manually adjustable by handle 84b fromthe exterior of the machine; while the blast through passage 82 iscontrolled by valve 85 mounted onshaft 85a "adjustable from the exterior of the machine by handle 85b. The forward end of the passage 62ais provided with an upwardly inclined bailie board 88 having connected'to the front end thereof a chute board 81 which coacts with the board 55to provide a discharge chute '88 for stones and like relatively heavyparticles.

At the forward or discharge end of blast passage 82 is a deflector board88 for properly directing the blast outwardly to the cleaning grid i8.

In the position shown in Figs. 1 and 3, the valve board 58 is adjustedto a position where it forms an extension of the bottom pan so that thepeanuts will be directed against baille board 59 and curved extension59a and thence drop by gravity onto bafile board 54; and as they dropthrough the space between extension 59a and baille board 54 at the endof the lower wind blast passage 82a, the blast throws the peanuts intothe hopper 53, any-stones and like heavy particles dropping through thechute 58. Should conditions be such as not to require elimination ofstones or like heavy particles, it is only necessary to swing the valveboard 56 to the dotted line position shown in Fig. 1, whereupon thepeanuts will drop directly into the hopper 53.

The trough 2i in which the delivery auger Zia operates is formed with aseries of screening openings along the bottom portion thereof which arepreferably oblong in shape, to effect removal of any dust and dirt thatmay remain at the final passage of the peanuts.

The drive from a suitable source may be applied to pulley wheel Ill fromwhich it is taken by belt Ii to pulley 12 which drives the strippingcylinder '22. From the stripping cylinder the drive is taken by pulleyl3 and belt I4 to pulley 15 which drives the picking cylinder. Also,from pulley 13 the drive is taken by belt 18 to pulley 11, the shaft forwhich carries a sprocket I8 having trained thereover link belt 19 whichdrives a series of sprockets 88 for the stemmer saws 28. Another pulley8i transmits the drive from shaft 9i through belt 82 to pulley 83 whichdrives the sacker elevator 84, not shown in detail and forming no partof the present invention. The fan mill drive is taken from pulley 85through belt 88 to pulley 81 secured on the fan shaft. Another pulley 88mounted on said latter shaft transmits the drive through belt 88 topulley 90, which drives the conveyor auger 2 la,

The vine rack 23 and grid pan I! are shaken or oscillated by means ofcrank connections onthe opposite ends of the pulley shaft 9! whichoperate rods 92 with arms 93 of bell cranks (one set on each side of themachine), the latter in turn being secured on the opposite ends of shaft94 and having arms 93a and 93b, arms 93a being pivotally connected tovine rack 23, and arms 93b being pivotally connected to grid pan il. Thecleaning grid I8 is pivotally connected with the rear end of the gridpan il by rocker arms to cylinder carries the vines around to theconcave bed [5a at which point the vines and nuts are subjected to theaction of the retarding pins or teeth 40 as well as the pins or concaveteeth, there being a further stripping action of the peanuts from thevines at this point. The suction blast is applied through the feed board26 and partition 21 and through the slots of the concave bed lid towithdraw dust and dirt and like extraneous matter and transmit the samea'distance from the machine, preferably down wind. The vines aresubjected to a further stripping action by the stripping screen sectionIN), the nuts dropping through the pear-shaped openings of the saidscreen onto portion 45 of the grid pan H. The nuts are progressedrearwardly onto the grid 48 of said pan, at which point vine lengths.sticks and like matter, which may have passed through the screen sectioni622 with the nuts, are separated from the latter andprogressedrearwardly and finally removed at the rear of the machine bythe wind blast, the nuts dropping through the grid section 46 onto blastdeflector section 41, where they are progressed onto section 48 andthence onto cleaning grid l8 where they are acted on by the wind blast.From cleaning grid i8 the nuts drop onto pan 5i, where they 216asubjected to the action of the stemmer saws Should conditions be suchthat stones and like heavy particles pass through the machine with thenuts, the valve board 55 may be turned to the position shown in Figs. 1and 3, causing the nuts to pass onto baille board 58, and. its extension59a and thence onto baille board 54, at which point they are subjectedto the action of the wind blast through passage 62a, which should beadjusted to the extent that it throws the nuts into the hopper 53 andpermits the stones and like heavy particles to drop through dischargechute 68.

Actualexperience has demonstrated the high cleaning efllciency of themachine, while at the same time the number of parts is less than usuallyfound in machines of this type and manufacturing costs are relativelylow.

It will be understood that certain changes in the construction anddesign of the machine as a whole as well as the respective parts may beadopted without departing from the spirit or scope of the presentinvention as defined by the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In a peanut picking machine, a wind blast unit, a housing for thelatter, means separating the housing into upper and lower wind blastpassages, a cleaning grid subject to the action of the wind blast, aconveyor for removing nuts from the machine, saidconveyor being providedwith a hopper opening, a valve board coacting with said opening, adeflector board in rear of said valve board, said valve board beingadjustable to permit the nuts to pass directly from said cleaning gridinto said opening or direct the nuts-rearwardly to said deflector boardand thence into said opening, the nuts when passing rearwardly to saiddeflector board being subjected to' the blast of the lower wind blastpassage to remove stones and like heavy particles therefrom.

2. In a peanut picking machine, a cleaning grid, an inclined pan locatedbeneath said cleaning grid to receive nutsrtherefrom, stemmer sawsprojecting upwardly through said pan to stem the nuts falling onto thelatter, a conveyor including a trough having a hopper opening, a valveboard located to close said opening from passage of nuts into the troughdirectly from said pan or direct the nuts rearwardly over said trough, adeflector board located in rear b said valve board for deflecting .thenuts into said trough from said valve board, a wind blast, means fordirecting said blast onto the nuts falling from said deflector board andfor lifting the nuts into said hopper opening thereby permitting anystones or like heavy particles to fall free of the nuts, and means foradjusting the wind blast.

3. In a peanut picking machine, a wind blast unit, a housing for thelatter, means in said housing defining separate passages for the blast,a cleaning grid located in the path of the blast from one of saidpassages, a pan located beneath said cleaning grid receiving nutsfalling through the latter, a discharge conveyor trough for receivingnuts from said pan, a valve board ,adjustably mounted adjacent thedischarge end of said pan, the outlet of a second wind blast passage,and the inlet to saidttrough to selectively pass the nuts and anyforeign matter present directly into said trough from said pan or directthe nuts and foreign matter into the path of the wind blast to thesecond of said passages, the nuts being separated from the stones andother heavy particles forming the foreign matter and projected into saidtrough by the force of said wind blast.

4. In a peanut picking machine having a pick- I ing cylinder, a worktable ahead of said picking located adjacent said pan adjustable to passthe r nuts directly into said trough from said pan or subject the nutsto the wind blast through the other of said passages and then into saidtrough to separate stone's and like heavy particles from the nuts.

said grid pan into said opening or .direct the nuts rearwardly to saiddeflector and thence into said opening, the nuts when passing rearwardlyto said deflector beingsubjected to the blast of the lower wind blastpassage to remove stones and like heavy particles therefrom.

6. In a peanut picking machine, a cleaner grid, a pan located beneathsaid cleaner grid to receive nuts therefrom, stemmer saws projectingupwardly through said pan tostem the nuts falling onto the latter, aconveyor including a trough having a hopper opening, a valve memberlocated to close said opening from passage of nuts into the troughdirectly from said pan or direct the nuts rearwardly over said trough, adeflector located in the rear of said valve member for deflecting thenuts into said trough from said valve member, a wind blast, means fordirecting said blast onto the nuts fallingfrom said deflector and forlifting the nuts into said hopper opening permitting any stones or likeheavy particles to fall free of the nuts, and means for controlling thewind blast.

DANIEL F. GOOD.

REFERENCES crrEn The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 329,602 Smith Nov. 3, 1885833,700 Still Oct. 16, 1906 861,446 Emerson July 30, 1907 925,983Benthal June 22, 1909 952,288 Welfelt Mar. 15, 1910 971,770 McDanielOct. 4, 1910 1,081,593 Eisenhart Dec. 16, 1913 1,190,471 Schuette July11, 1916 1,199,667 Creter Sept. 26, 1916 1,230,437 Schuette June 19,1917 2,071,267 Schneider Feb. 16, 1937 2,349,262 Good May 23, 1944

